Vape pen overheats on aircraft, causing fire

A fire started on-board a SkyWest flight after the battery within a vape pen overheated.. Fortunately, the incident happened just prior to take-off and the fire was put out. The issue raises new safety concerns with vaping devices.

E-cigarettes and other vaping devices carry health risks, although these are usually more associated with the the chemicals linked to the atomized vapor (for example, the World Health Organization is concerned about the chemicals in e-cigarettes and the unknown, potential adverse effects these could have on the lungs). Incidents surrounding the device itself represent a different area of consideration.

E-cigarettes can explode and seriously injure people. Although they appear rare, these explosions can be dangerous, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cautioned.

With the fire on-board the SkyWest flight, this was caused by a vape pen’s battery, which overheated. This led to a small fire occurring inside the cabin, just before takeoff in New York. The incident was addressed by a vigilant flight attendant who managed to extinguish the flames.

According to Global News, the fire was sufficient for smoke to enter the cabin on the flight that was to travel internally in the U.S., between LaGuardia Airport and Houston.

A clip of the incident is shown in the following video:

One passenger, Rex Sakamoto, told CBS2: “You could tell it was a very strong smell — smelled like a campfire at first,” he said. “Once I realized and someone yelled fire, it was startling, like, wow, I need to get off this plane right now.”

Regulations within the U.S. currently permit vaping devices to be stored in carry-on baggage but they are not permitted in checked-in luggage. Other incidents involving vaping devices, leading to fires have been recorded on public transport (such as buses).

Discussing the risks, Keith Bryant, a U.S. Fire Administrator comments: "It's the battery itself that we're concerned about from a safety perspective. Lithium-ion batteries because of their composition and the way that they do generate power, do tend to generate a lot of heat as well."